We tried these two dessert wines last night at BacchusBadBoys:
1. TheOjaiVnyd Viognier RollRanch/Calif (6 brls made; 10%) 2005: Dark brown/bronze/almost red color; beautiful complex some botrytis/apricotty/peachy some cedary/pencilly/oaky very complex nose; quite sweet strong botrytis/peachy/apricotty very tart bit cedary/pencilly very complex flavor; very long/lingering strong botrytis/peachy/apricotty bit cedary/pencilly quite sweet rather tart/tangy very complex finish; a beautiful complex dessert wine that'll go on for another 10 yrs, though little Viog character; terrific wine.
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2. Casey Hartlip GWT LateHrvst OrdwayVnyd/MendoCnty (12%; RS: 15%; Brl frmtd; Winemaker: GregGraziano) 2013: Light gold color; very intense GWT/cheap hair oil slight peachy/ripe (some botrytis?) rather ccomplex beautiful nose; bit soft very intense GWT/hair oil/lychee/huge fruit quite sweet fairly complex flavor; very long/lingering intense GWT/hair oil/lychee/bit pineapple/peachy bit soft very sweet some complex beautiful finish; starting to show some complexity now; as good as any Alsace SGN that I can recall having; will only get better over the next 10-15 yrs. $11.00/hlf (vCH)
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Ojai: I was pretty much blindsided by how good this wine was. Adam's RollRanch dessert Viogniers are often made as freezer ice wines, which tend to remain very sweet but seldom show much evolution or complexity. I don't recall this wine in its youth showing much, if any, botrytis character. But it is definitely there now. A stunning dessert wine, despite the brown color, w/ no signs of oxidation.
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2. CaseyHartlip: Is, of course, everybody's favorite redneck grapegrower. This was a block of GWT from Ordway that went unspoken for and became very overripe. He gave the grapes to his good buddy, Grazie, to see what he could salvage from it. Casey sold a bunch of cases to my group for a song. Don't know what happened to the rest of the wine, though. I hadn't had it in some two yrs and was just blown away by how good it is getting, developing some complexity that I'd not expected. The guy on the tractor certainly knows what he's doing.
Tom